Toward Strategic Cooperation between India, the United States, and Europe

If so, how might key U. The Indians currently are demanding that the United States provide them with some of the most advanced, classified U. China and India recently agreed to increase their mutual trade to record levels over the next decade. The United States and India, meanwhile, have agreed to reduce barriers to increasing U.

All of these questions are addressed in this book. What are the bottom line recommendations of these analysts and of experts who reviewed their work? If the United States and India are serious about having a positive and fruitful strategic relationship, a number of minimal, specific, additional steps beyond merely striking a nuclear cooperative agreement with the U. The United States should begin negotiations now to reach a free trade agreement in due course with India. A potential problem with the United States developing sounder relations with India is the relatively lower level of trade that may be conducted between India and the United States as compared to trade between China and the United States.

Indian regulations, bureaucratic fiat, and protectionism have played a heavy hand in reducing U. The United States should take the lead to change this by beginning negotiations to establish a free trade zone with India and promising to conclude these talks when India removes its obstacles to increased U. Working toward this end will do more to cement sound strategic economic and political relations with India than any military or nuclear cooperative venture could ever do alone. Congress can support this course of action simply by passing a sense of Congress resolution urging the Executive Branch to begin such negotiations.

The Executive, meanwhile, can choose to begin talks on its own without waiting upon Congress to pass such a resolution. The United States should do more to make it easier for Indian citizens to visit and work in the United States. At the end of the last Congress, House Republicans attempted to increase the number of business visas Indians might be able to secure to come to the United States. It is worthy of resurrecting. The more Indians that can visit and work in the United States, the better both economically and politically for the United States and for India.

Again, the strategic value of freeing the movement of peoples between India and the United States far exceeds anything that might be secured through any government-to-government space or nuclear cooperative project. As already noted, the House nearly passed a law expanding such visas. The Executive Branch and the new Congress should work together to make such an expansion occur.

Congress must enforce current law to assure that U. Technically, NPT weapons states cannot help any nation that did not have nuclear weapons before including India directly or indirectly to acquire nuclear weapons. That means that the United States cannot help New Delhi meet its nuclear reactor fuel requirements unless U. This will require a careful annual monitoring of the Indian civilian and military nuclear programs.

It would help if a pledge could be secured from India that it will not increase its nuclear weapons production beyond current levels. Here, it would also be useful if the U. The NSG was created to restrict trade to countries like India that refused to open all of their civilian nuclear facilities to international inspections and proceeded to make nuclear weapons and test them.

Lest the NSG establish a new lower standard for nuclear trade that would encourage countries to think they could proceed to divert nuclear materials and test them, several NSG members have privately suggested that any Indian resumption of nuclear testing should cause all of the NSG membership to suspend nuclear cooperation until the NSG has had a chance to confer and agree on some other course of action. Finally, the IAEA should take care not to let its own safeguard standards be reduced any further. India wants safeguards only to apply if foreign fuel is present in its civilian reactors.

The IAEA, so far, has been resisting accepting this looser standard. Several members of the NSG are refusing to consider opening nuclear trade with India until this matter is resolved. This part of the law must be upheld to avoid any misunderstanding of what U. Insist that India establish a credible nuclear accident insurance pool and cooperate to reduce nuclear terrorism risks before providing it with significant civilian nuclear exports. Currently, the Indian government does not allow any of its civilian nuclear facilities to be owned or managed by private entities.

It therefore sees no need to provide for private insurance against nucelar accidents. If the United States is serious about wanting India to expand its use of nuclear power and to import the best technology it can from abroad, it has a direct stake in seeing India loosen the management and ownership reigns over nuclear power plants. For this purpose, going beyond the minimal protections that eventually will be afforded by the Vienna Convention on Civil Nuclear Liability Damage which has not yet entered into force will be essential.

At a minimum, the United States should encourage India to develop an insurance pool equivalent to that afforded by the Price Anderson Act, which has been criticized in the United States for being far less than what would be required to cover a major nuclear accident. As for nuclear terrorism, India has voiced concerns that its own civilian nuclear facilities might be targeted by Muslim extremists and has offered to work more closely with Pakistan to reduce these risks. These misplaced apprehensions need to be overcome. Pushing India to provide for adequate nuclear insurance should help.

Iran and India previously have discussed cooperation in space launch vehicle SLV technology. If there should be any revelations that India has helped Iran develop long-range missiles that could threaten North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO allies and the United States, this news would seriously undermine European and American public support for high-technology and defense cooperation with India generally. Meanwhile, the prospects that India will cut off its military-to-military cooperation with Iran in the near term is not very high.

As long as the United States is eager to uphold and strengthen the MTCR, it would be wise do nothing to undermine its strictures against member states sharing satellite integration and satellite launch technology as it did in the commercial space satellite launch cooperation with China in the ls. Here, careful, routine congressional oversight of the U.

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On the other hand, the United States and other satellite launching nations can and should provide their launch services to India without discrimination and cooperate in space science ventures whenever possible. A chronological listing by resource: Download the Complete Edition Table of Contents 1. Negotiating the Obstacles to U.

By John Stephenson and Peter Tynan 3. Ramana Terrorism, Missiles and Arms Control 5. In the s and early s the United States gave very strong support to the Indian independence movement in defiance of the British Empire. Tens of thousands of American servicemen arrived, bringing all sorts of advanced technology, and money; they left in Serious tension erupted over American demands, led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt , that India be given independence, a proposition Prime Minister Winston Churchill vehemently rejected.

For years Roosevelt had encouraged Britain's disengagement from India. The American position was based on principled opposition to colonialism, practical concern for the outcome of the war, and the expectation of a large American role in a post-colonial era.

However, in when the Indian National Congress launched a Quit India movement, the British authorities immediately arrested tens of thousands of activists. Meanwhile, India became the main American staging base for aid to China.

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Churchill threatened to resign if Roosevelt pushed too hard, so Roosevelt backed down. America under the Truman administration leaned towards favouring India in the late s as a consequence of most U. American officials perceived India's policy of non-alignment negatively. Grady told then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that the United States did not consider neutrality to be an acceptable position. Grady told the State Department in December that he had informed Nehru "that this is a question that cannot be straddled and that India should get on the democratic side immediately.

In , Nehru rejected American suggestions for resolving the Kashmir crisis via third party mediation. His tour of the US was "an undiplomatic disaster" that left bad feelings on both sides. India tried to act as a broker to help end that war, and served as a conduit for diplomatic messages between the US and China. Meanwhile, poor harvests forced India to ask for American aid for its food security, which was given starting in The Soviet Union provided about half as much in monetary terms, however made much larger contributions in kind, taking the form of infrastructural aid, soft loans, technical knowledge transfer, economic planning and skills involved in the areas of steel mills , machine building , hydro-electric power and other heavy industries especially nuclear energy and space research.

In , Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first US President to visit India to strengthen the staggering ties between the two nations. He was so supportive that the New York Times remarked, "It did not seem to matter much whether Nehru had actually requested or been given a guarantee that the US would help India to meet further Chinese Communist aggression. What mattered was the obvious strengthening of Indian—American friendship to a point where no such guarantee was necessary. Kennedy 's Presidency —63 , India was considered a strategic partner and counterweight to the rise of Communist China.

Chinese Communists have been moving ahead the last 10 years. India has been making some progress, but if India does not succeed with her million people, if she can't make freedom work, then people around the world are going to determine, particularly in the underdeveloped world, that the only way they can develop their resources is through the Communist system.

The Kennedy administration openly supported India during the Sino-Indian war and considered the Chinese action as "blatant Chinese Communist aggression against India". Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and General Maxwell Taylor advised the president to use nuclear weapons should the Americans intervene in such a situation. Kennedy insisted that Washington defend India as it would any ally, saying, "We should defend India, and therefore we will defend India.

As an economist, he also presided over the at the time largest US foreign aid program to any country. Following the assassination of Kennedy in , Indo-US relations deteriorated gradually. While Kennedy's successor Lyndon Johnson sought to maintain relations with India to counter Communist China, [38] he also sought to strengthen ties with Pakistan with the hopes of easing tensions with China and weakening India's growing military buildup as well.

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Richard Nixon shifted away from the neutral stance which his predecessors had taken towards Indo-Pakistani hostilities. He established a very close relationship with Pakistan, aiding it militarily and economically, as India, now under the leadership of Indira Gandhi , was seen as leaning towards the Soviet Union. He considered Pakistan as a very important ally to counter Soviet influence in the Indian subcontinent and establish ties with China, with whom Pakistan was very close.

Later in , India conducted its first nuclear test, Smiling Buddha , which was opposed by the US, however it also concluded that the test did not violate any agreement and proceeded with a June shipment of enriched uranium for the Tarapur reactor. In the late s, with the anti-Soviet Janata Party leader Morarji Desai becoming the Prime Minister, India improved its relations with the US, now led by Jimmy Carter , despite the latter signing an order in barring nuclear material from being exported to India due to India's non-proliferation record.

Despite the return of Indira Gandhi to power in , the relations between the two countries continued to improve gradually, although India did not support the United States in its role in the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The Reagan Administration provided limited assistance to India.

India sounded out Washington on the purchase of a range of US defence technology, including F-5 aircraft, super computers, night vision goggles and radars. In Washington approved the supply of selected technology to India including gas turbines for naval frigates and engines for prototypes for India's light combat aircraft. There were also unpublicised transfers of technology, including the engagement of a US company, Continental Electronics, to design and build a new VLF communications station at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, which was commissioned in the late s.

The United States strongly condemned this testing, promised sanctions, and voted in favour of a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning the tests. President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions on India, including cutting off all military and economic aid, freezing loans by American banks to state-owned Indian companies, prohibiting loans to the Indian government for all except food purchases, prohibiting American aerospace technology and uranium exports to India, and requiring the US to oppose all loan requests by India to international lending agencies.

Only Japan joined the US in imposing direct sanctions, while most other nations continued to trade with India. The sanctions were soon lifted. Afterward, the Clinton administration and Prime Minister Vajpayee exchanged representatives to help rebuild relations. India emerged in the 21st century as increasingly vital to core US foreign policy interests. India, a dominant actor in its region, and the home of more than one billion citizens, is now often characterised as a nascent Great Power and an "indispensable partner" of the US, one that many analysts view as a potential counterweight to the growing clout of China.

In March , U. Over the course of improved diplomatic relations with the Bush Administration, India agreed to allow close international monitoring of its nuclear weapons development, although it has refused to give up its current nuclear arsenal. Bush collaborated closely with India in controlling and policing the strategically critical Indian Ocean sea lanes from the Suez Canal to Singapore. During the tenure of the George W. Bush administration , relations between India and the United States were seen to have blossomed, primarily over common concerns regarding growing Islamic extremism , energy security, and climate change.

Bush commented, "India is a great example of democracy. It is very devout, has diverse religious heads, but everyone is comfortable about their religion. The world needs India". Bush as "being the most pro-Indian president in American history. According to Laskar , the UPA rule has seen a "transformation in bilateral ties with the US", as a result of which the relations now covers "a wide range of issues, including high technology, space, education, agriculture, trade, clean energy, counter-terrorism, etc".

After the December tsunami , the US and Indian navies cooperated in search and rescue operations and in the reconstruction of affected areas. Since , Washington and New Delhi have been pursuing a "strategic partnership" that is based on shared values and generally convergent geopolitical interests.

Numerous economic, security, and global initiatives — including plans for civilian nuclear cooperation — are underway. This latter initiative, first launched in , reversed three decades of American non-proliferation policy. Also in , the United States and India signed a ten-year defence framework agreement, with the goal of expanding bilateral security cooperation. The two countries engaged in numerous and unprecedented combined military exercises, and major US arms sales to India were concluded. The value of all bilateral trade tripled from to and continues to grow, while significant two-way investment also grows and flourishes.

The influence of a large Indian-American community is reflected in the largest country-specific caucus in the United States Congress , while between — more than , Indian students have attended American colleges and universities. Between and Western think-tanks , especially in the US and UK, failed to foresee the swing in electoral voting patterns of the growing middle-class and anticipate the scale of political change in India brought about by improvements in basic education and freedom of the press.

According to Michael Kugelman, South and Southeast Asia expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, the US was unprepared to meet new challenges in India because of its "inability to keep pace with the transformations. He also said that both countries are strengthening the relations between their defence and research organisations.

On 2 July , U.

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WikiLeaks revelations that Western intelligence agencies have used foreign aid workers and staff at NGOs as non-official cover prompted the Government of India to step-up the monitoring of satellite phones and movement of personnel working for humanitarian relief organisations and development aid agencies in the vicinity of sensitive locations. According to some analysts, India—U. Narayanan , criticised the Obama administration for linking the Kashmir dispute to the instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and said that by doing so, President Obama was "barking up the wrong tree.

It also suggested that India take a more proactive role in rebuilding Afghanistan , irrespective of the attitude of the Obama Administration. Consequently, the Obama Administration may find itself at odds with India's rigid stance against terrorism. India and US governments have differed on a variety of regional issues ranging from India's cordial relations with Iran and Russia to foreign policy disagreements relating to Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Calling India and the United States "natural allies", [85] Blake said that the United States cannot afford to meet the strategic priorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan at "the expense of India".

India criticised the Obama Administration's decision to limit H-1B temporary visas , and India's then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee later, the President of India until said that his country would oppose US " protectionism " at various international forums.

In May , Obama reiterated his anti-outsourcing views and criticised the current US tax policy "that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York. She also rebuked protectionist policies, saying that "[United States] will not use the global financial crisis as an excuse to fall back on protectionism. We hope India will work with us to create a more open, equitable set of opportunities for trade between our nations. Krishna, visited Washington, D. As leader of the US delegation, Secretary of State Clinton lauded India as "an indispensable partner and a trusted friend".

Eisenhower in to ever address a joint session of the Parliament of India. Marshals Service and held in the general inmate population. India demanded an apology from the U. Embassy in New Delhi.

WHY US AND INDIA ARE NATURAL ALLIES AND THE RELATION IS GETTING STRONGER DAY BY DAY?

The Indian government also blocked non-diplomats from using the American Community Support Association ACSA club and American Embassy Club in New Delhi, ordering these social clubs to cease all commercial activities benefiting non-diplomatic personnel by 16 January American diplomats were asked to show work contracts of all domestic help cooks, gardeners, drivers and security staff employed within their households.

Khobragade was subject to prosecution at the time of her arrest because she had only consular immunity which gives one immunity from prosecution only for acts committed in connection with official duties and not the more extensive diplomatic immunity. State Department had told Khobragade to leave the country. Blackwill , the former U. President Obama visited India in January Speaking at Harvard Law School in , U. Attorney in Manhattan Preet Bharara , in the Khobragade case, said: That is why career agents in the State Department asked career prosecutors in my office to approve criminal charges.

Khobragade was originally a highly sympathetic figure in India, as Indians viewed her arrest as an affront to national dignity. Opinions in India shifted, however, after Khobragade was the subject of two inquiries by the Indian government. Human rights activists accused Modi of fostering anti-Muslim violence. Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center opined that although technically speaking there was no US 'visa ban' from to , the US government policy of considering Modi as persona non grata had resulted in a de facto travel-ban.

Exploring opportunities on how to move the relationship out of a state of morose, Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation , says that "the U. Bush, spoke at length about India—U. He is candid and frank. I also worked with him during the Gujarat earthquake when I was posted as the US ambassador to India.

It was mistake by the current Obama administration to delay engagement with Mr Modi. I do not know why they did so but definitely, this did not help in building relationship. The old formula and stereotypes will not work if the US administration wants to engage with Mr Modi. The Indian prime minister is candid, direct and smart. He speaks his mind. They have to do something innovative to engage with him. This decision applies to Mr. It is based on the fact that, as head of the State government in Gujarat between February and May , he was responsible for the performance of state institutions at that time.

Both reports document the violence in Gujarat from February to May and cite the Indian National Human Rights Commission report, which states there was "a comprehensive failure on the part of the state government to control the persistent violation of rights of life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the people of the state. Robert Blackwill, former US ambassador to India opined: Nicholas Burns , former U. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs from to , has spoken about the visa denial by saying: In , the US Commission for International Religious Freedom USCIRF report [] after ignoring the views and decision of independent body SIT set up by India's highest judiciary [] vehemently alleged that there was "significant evidence" linking Narendra Modi to communal riots in the state in and asked the Obama administration to continue the policy of preventing him from travelling to the United States of America.

The Obama administration maintained the decision taken by the George W. The visa refusal came after some Indian-American groups and human rights organizations with political view campaigned against Modi, including the Coalition Against Genocide. At present, India and the US share an extensive and expanding cultural, strategic, military, and economic relationship [] [] [] [] [] which is in the phase of implementing confidence building measures CBM to overcome the legacy of trust deficit — brought about by adversarial US foreign policies [] [] [] [] and multiple instances of technology denial [] [] [] [] [] — which have plagued the relationship over several decades.

Key recent developments include the rapid growth of India's economy, closer ties between the Indian and American industries especially in the Information and communications technology ICT , engineering and medical sectors, an informal entente to manage an increasingly assertive China , robust cooperation on counter-terrorism, the deterioration of U. Income creation in the USA through knowledge-based employment by Asian Indians has outpaced every other ethnic group according to U.

US and India continue to differ on issues ranging from trade to civil liberties. Singh reiterated India's commitment to work within an international framework to tackle the problem of trafficking but rejected any "unilateral assessments" by another country saying "We will never accept it" and downplayed the importance of the visits: I can do no better than to reiterate the U. The truth is that continuing to escalate the quality of arms available to an irresponsible regime that has sent terrorists to India, and in the name of anti-terrorism, is cynicism of the highest order".

In February , Indian ambassador to the U. Navtej Sarna hosted a reception for the National Governors Association NGA , which was attended by the Governors of 25 states and senior representatives of 3 more states. This was the first time such an event has occurred. He further added, "We clearly understand the strategic importance of India, of India—U. As we grow our 21st century economy, India has been so instrumental in helping us build our technology, medical professions.

We recognise a country that has been such a close strategic ally of the US. That's why we the Governors are here tonight. During the run-off to the Indian general election, there was wide-ranging scepticism regarding the future of the India—U. Narendra Modi, whose US visa had been revoked while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat , had been boycotted by US officials for almost a decade [] for his alleged role in the Gujarat riots.

Moreover, following his election as the Prime Minister of India President Obama congratulated him over telephone and invited him to visit the US. In September , days before visiting the US in an interview to CNN 's Fareed Zakaria , Modi said that "India and the United States are bound together, by history and culture" but acknowledged that there have been "ups and downs" in relations. While there, Modi also met several American business leaders and invited them to join his ambitious Make in India program in a bid to make India a manufacturing hub.

The conspicuous absence of major announcements, a key indicator of the state of US relations with the host country, led political commentators in both countries to highlight the confidence-building aspects of the visit [] [] [] [] []. Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured the Silicon Valley and met with entrepreneurs — several of whom are persons of Indian origin — involved in successful microelectronics, digital communications and biotechnology start-ups to promote the NDA government's Make in India initiative.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while visiting the United States addressed a joint session of Congress highlighting the common traits of both democracies and long-term friendship between the two countries. Modi drew on parallels between the two countries and addressed a variety of issues where the two countries have worked together in the past and where the future course of action would lie.

On 8 November , US has announced a grant of nearly USD , for organisations which can come up with ideas and projects to promote religious freedom in India and Sri Lanka. The Pentagon describes the agreements as "routine instruments that the U. American officials have stated that the agreements are not prerequisites for bilateral defence co-operation, but would make it simpler and more cost-effective to carry out activities such as refueling aircraft or ships in each other's countries and providing disaster relief.

The agreement enables the sharing of military intelligence between the two countries and requires each country to protect the others' classified information. The LEMOA permits the military of either country to use the others' bases for re-supplying or carrying out repairs. The agreement does not make the provision of logistical support binding on either country, and requires individual clearance for each request. It permits the exchange of unclassified and controlled unclassified geospatial products, topographical, nautical, and aeronautical data, products and services between India and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency NGA.

Pant, professor of International relations at King's College London, highlighted the importance of India to US strategic planning by saying: Recognising India as a key to its strategic interests, the United States has sought to strengthen its relationship with India. The two countries are the world's largest democracies, and both are committed to political freedom protected by representative government.

The US and India have a common interest in the free flow of commerce and resources, including through the vital sea lanes of the Indian Ocean. USA as part of his foreign policy to counter China [] which is now aggressively growing to the top position now held by USA, wants to make India as one of the major defence partners for which it is in talks with Indian representatives to sell highly technologically advanced predator drones.

There have been some differences, however, including US concerns over the nuclear weapons programmes and the pace of economic reforms in India. In the past, these concerns may have dominated US thinking, but today the US views India as a growing world power with which it shares common strategic interests. In a meeting between President George W.